


Willing Fools

by Lanerose



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-02-22
Updated: 2007-02-22
Packaged: 2018-06-05 18:18:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6716005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lanerose/pseuds/Lanerose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three times Sephiroth and Reno meet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Willing Fools

  
_“Every man is a fool in some man’s opinion.” ~ Spanish Proverb_

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first time that he met Sephiroth, Reno not only felt like a fool, but was willing to bet that he looked like one, too. Between his broken leg, dislocated shoulder, and sliced open abdomen, Reno found sitting up to be painful. Naturally, he had simply sprawled out upon the ground, wishing idly for a mattress or a blanket or a whatever. When a key had finally turned in the lock and light flooded the room, Reno didn’t bother to open his eyes.

“You’re wasting your time,” he said, leaning back as casually as he could and ignoring the hiss of pain that threatened to explode from his lips. “I’m not telling you a damned thing, and you’re fuckin’ wasting both my time and yours with this crap.”

“Can you walk?”

That. That right there would be the moment when the red head’s eyes snapped open and flickered quickly to the door. The imposing figure with the impossibly long hair and sword could only be one person. Reno blinked up at the man. Turks rescued other Turks. Sometimes, Turks would rescue Soldiers. Damned if it wasn’t a cold day in hell when any Soldier, let alone the General, bothered to go on a rescue mission. There was something oddly satisfying in having both brought hell to the Planet and made it cold there.

“Well,” Reno drawled, shutting his eyes again, “my leg’s a little broken at the moment. Bastards dislocated my shoulder on the same side, too, so I’m gonna have to go with a fuck no, sir.”

“I see.”

Reno had a split-second to observe the older man before Sephiroth moved quickly from the doorway and scooped Reno up from his good side, cradling the lithe Turk with only his right arm, leaving the left free to wield the Masamune as necessary. Taut, smooth muscles moved easily under his chest. Reno narrowly resisted the urge to curse under his breath about how totally uncool this was, mainly because with hearing as good as Sephiroth’s was rumored to be, you never knew what might get heard.

Sephiroth moved through the hallways with the fluid grace that Reno had always appreciated in the man from a distance. On the few occasions soldiers were stupid enough to pick a fight – though Reno gave them full points for balls – Sephiroth dispatched them with efficient ease and minimal jostling. Maybe it was the blood loss, but the gently rocking steps and easy movements lulled Reno slowly into the depths of slumber.

“Fuck,” Reno muttered five days later, when he awoke to Rude’s relieved expression and realized that he couldn’t remember leaving the building where he’d been held. “That was uncool.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The second time that the general met Reno, Sephiroth looked like an idiot and, what was worse, knew it. President Shinra liked only three things more than his money – his power, his women, and flaunting either of the first two things. General Sephiroth, who owed both his existence and his skills to the Shinra name, had naturally become one of the President’s favorite possessions to show off.

Someone, Sephiroth felt sure, needed to warn the President that if he ever insisted on a white tie affair again, he would not live long enough to witness it. The general’s hand itched for the weapon he had not been permitted to bring, the short sword at his side a small consolation prize to the Masamune.

“Don’t look now,” a voice whispered in Sephiroth’s ear when he had at long last managed to duck behind a pillar, “but the boss is looking for you again.”

Sephiroth did not jump, because such behaviour in a general, particularly one of his stature, would have been completely unseemly. He did, however, turn around. The dark blue suit, worn without a tie even at this formal occasion, gave away his co-conspirator’s identity before his eyes even reached the shock wave of red hair. The suit tapered lazily down a lean line of now-mended muscles.

“I heard that some Wutaiians were going to try and sneak in tonight to kill the President,” Reno said, leaning back against the pole. Sephiroth tried to remember any such rumor. The red-head winked at him before continuing, “Probably something someone should check out, if you know what I mean?”

“Yes…” Sephiroth replied, nodding. Reno’s grin grew broader, and Sephiroth could easily read the amusement in his eyes. “If you’ll explain to the President what happened?”

“Yes, sir.” The salute he received was lazy at best, which somehow made it more pleasant. Sephiroth turned on his heel and had begun to walk away when – “Oh, and sir?”

Sephiroth turned back to face the other man. Reno smirked.

“Nice tux.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The third time they met, they both came out of it acting like fools – and that, on some level, had to be Zack’s fault. Zack claimed that it wasn’t fair to blame him since, according to Sephiroth, just about everything that had happened, ever, had somehow been his fault. Naturally, neither of them paid any attention to his protests.

“Yo, Red! Didn’t expect to see you tonight!” Zack shouted, cheerfully clapping the man on the back as he seated himself at the bar. Sephiroth took the barstool on Zack’s opposite side with a sigh of resignation.

“Spikey! What are you doing here? You leave little Spike at home or something?” Reno replied, looking up from his beer and away from his teammates.

“Brought someone else instead,” Zack said, gesturing to the silver-haired man on his right. Reno’s blue eyes widened as Zack continued, “He doesn’t get out much. Think you could help me show him a good time?”

Sephiroth had been shaking his head by that point, which was good, because Reno had needed that moment to recover the scrambled circuits of his brain that were still processing _Sephiroth_ in a _bar_. Zack had weird hobbies.

“Whatever,” Reno grabbed his beer from the bar and tipped the last of the foamy liquid into his mouth. He signaled the bartender as he set the bottle down again, glancing at the silver-haired man. Zack stepped back, pulling Sephiroth from the stool he had been seated on and repositioning the man in between the two of them. Reno eyed the general up and down slowly before nodding to himself. “Buy you a drink?”

“A Molotov.” Reno nodded, grinning.

That had been the first round of drinks. Zack had stayed for that one, Reno was pretty sure. He’d vanished somewhere after that and not reappeared. Reno couldn’t remember how many drinks he’d had before the next major event, though Rude would later claim it hadn’t been enough for Reno to say he was drunk, and Rude would know.

“I think I like you,” Reno said, a hand on Sephiroth’s shoulder. His hand had pulled the other man to him and his lips were on the general’s before Reno even noticed that it had happened. There was a split second mental scream of _OH SHIT!_ Before he realized that not only was Sephiroth kissing back, but he was kissing back like he meant it.

For someone who looked so frigid, the man himself was remarkably warm. Reno had remembered that after the first time he had been pressed up against Sephiroth, but the sensation struck home now in a particularly vivid way. Fire rushed through Reno’s veins, sliding from that hot mouth down into other very pleasant sensations. Reno drank the feeling in, almost dizzy with the rush of blood. He moaned softly when Sephiroth drew back to meet his eyes.

“This,” Sephiroth said, “is a remarkably foolish idea.”

“Good thing I don’t mind being a fool, then, isn’t it?” Reno grinned as he tugged the man back towards him. The answering feel of a smile on his lips, and the rest of the evening, more than explained Sephiroth’s opinions on the topic.

If this was foolish, Reno had no desire to ever be wise again.


End file.
